


Where Her Heart Leads Her

by sweetcarolanne



Category: Freaks (1932)
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Canon Disabled Character, Carnival, Circus, Drunkenness, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Kissing, Love, M/M, Other, Romance, Transgender, microcephaly, pinhead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 05:53:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5236778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcarolanne/pseuds/sweetcarolanne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Schlitzie is a determinded little person who knows exactly what she wants, and a drunken pass by Hercules the strongman won't stop her on the pathway to true love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Her Heart Leads Her

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to all the fans of Schlitzie and of the Freaks film, especially my dear friend Mii-Mii Ramone!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I am making no money from this, just playing with the characters, don't sue!
> 
> Many thanks to my beta who wishes to remain anonymous.
> 
> P.S. Some of the things Schlitzie says in this story were things actually attributed to the historical Schlitzie, so I borrowed them for the fictional one!

Schlitzie’s heart was beating very fast as she slipped out of the wagon where she lived with circus owner Madame Tetrallini and fellow sideshow performers Elvira and Jenny Lee. She felt more than slightly nervous, and she blushed a little every time she thought about where she was heading and what she would do when she got to her destination. But Schlitzie knew that she had to follow where her heart was leading her. With swift, determined little footsteps she made her way across the circus encampment, her eyes shining and her movements light from the love she felt. 

Schlitzie was a gentle soul who generously offered her tenderness and kindness to all good-hearted folk. But this love that now inspired her and drove her onward was special and different, intended for one only. It was the image of that one that made her smile so raptly, and she knew that she would only feel complete when she was finally held in his arms.

Her thoughts were so full of her beloved that she paid almost no attention to her surroundings. So when Schlitzie passed the wagon belonging to Hercules the strongman, she was startled to hear the door bang loudly and a stream of very coarse language issuing forth. Another thumping noise echoed, as if someone had tripped and nearly fallen, and profanity again assailed Schlitzie’s ears as she caught sight of Hercules himself coming down the steps, looking rather unkempt and dirty, clutching a bottle in one hand and reeling with each stride he took. 

Hercules had been out of sorts ever since Cleopatra, his trapeze artist paramour, had begun to accept the courtship of the wealthy Hans. It was true that Hercules had agreed to Cleopatra’s course of action as part of a conspiracy that stood to profit them both, and he knew that Cleo would eventually return to his bed, but the current state of affairs entailed Cleo spending most of her time with the little man, and on nights like this, when his needs were raging, Hercules was left feeling very lonely indeed, drinking far more than was good for him and growing moodier with each swig of the hard liquor he took.

The strongman had only just reached the ground on unsteady feet when he saw Schlitzie standing there with a shocked expression on her face.

He took another swig from the bottle, and a horrible grin spread across his face as he looked her up and down. “Why, little pinhead!” he slurred. “After a few drinks, you’re not so bad-looking!”

Schlitzie wrinkled her nose in repulsion and took a couple of steps backwards. Hercules looked absolutely dreadful and smelled even worse, and she did not want him anywhere near her. The strongman merely laughed and staggered closer, muttering something about “sauce for the gander” and fumbling with his free hand at the waistband of his pants.

“It’s your lucky night, little freak! Come and see what I have for you!” he growled, his eyes full of menace as he lurched towards Schlitzie. As the hand carrying the bottle reached for her, she evaded him once again, eyes now blazing with fury.

“GET SCREWED!” Schlitzie shrieked at the top of her lungs, and sped away as fast as her small feet would carry her. At that very moment, the ungainly strongman lost his grip on the liquor bottle and dropped it on the ground. Cursing once again, he scrambled after it as Schlitzie left him far behind and reached the place she had been heading for, slightly more out of breath than she would have preferred.

Phroso the clown had heard the commotion, coming out of his own wagon just in time to almost collide with the panting, trembling Schlitzie. 

“Schlitzie! Are you all right?” Phroso demanded, laying reassuring hands on Schlitzie’s shoulders as she struggled to compose herself. He gently ushered her up the steps and into his wagon. “If that big lunk’s laid so much as a finger on you – I don’t care how tough he thinks he is, I’ll deck him one!”

“Uh-uh,” Schlitzie said, shaking her head and letting him know with a gentle pat on his arm that she was fine. 

“Better stay away from that one – he’s got all the charm of an ox and he smells like one, too!” Phroso told her, his voice buoyant as he tried to lighten the mood, and Schlitzie giggled a little.

Phroso poured her a small glass of brandy from the bottle on a nearby table to calm her nerves, but Schlitzie, after draining the glass, seized the bottle itself and helped herself to another hefty swig. Something within her needed more than calming. Phroso could not help but laugh at her eagerness and suddenly flushed cheeks.

“Hey, slow down, sweetheart!” he chuckled, at the same time realizing that perhaps he was not the appropriate person to be lecturing Schlitzie or anyone else on the evils of strong drink, considering that he had been hitting the bottle rather more than he really should have been doing of late. And the determined little lady who had found her way to him that night was more than a small part of the reason why.

The memory of that playful, yet admonishing tap on his chest after he had playfully flirted with not only Schlitzie herself, but Elvira and Jenny Lee as well, had stayed with Phroso for many nights. Even more than the recollection of his kiss with Venus did, the thought of Schlitzie’s sweet blush when he complimented her on her pretty new dress returned to his mind unbidden again and again. 

Phroso could not deny his attraction to Venus. She was a stunningly beautiful woman with a kind, sweet nature, who had smiled beatifically upon his banter with Schlitzie and her friends. But as he took a seat and invited Schlitzie to do the same, and she, instead of taking the other chair, chose to sit on his lap as she sometimes did, he could not even think of Venus at all. 

He put his arms around Schlitzie to steady her, and it felt right to hold her, to cradle her close to the heart which was full of her already, even more so than his heavily swirling thoughts. Her weight was only slight, she felt so warm, and she was so exquisitely beautiful to Phroso, clad in the yellow dress with red flowers he loved to see her in and had praised so highly the first time he had flirted with her. 

Schlitzie felt like she belonged in his arms.

“You see? You see?” she asked, and Phroso nodded, knowing exactly what she meant.

Phroso knew that many years ago, Schlitzie had been a little boy named Simon. It had been the circus that had helped her grow into the person she truly was, the one she really wanted to be, just as it had been that way for Phroso and his life as a clown. It was a bond between them that made them two of a kind, and was even stronger now. 

Schlitzie’s breathing was slower and more relaxed, and the comfort of Phroso’s embrace as well as the shot of spirits made her bold. She tilted her head upwards to look at him, and pleaded softly, “Kiss?”

“Oh, yes.”

Phroso bent to kiss her on the cheek, as he often did, but was suddenly struck by surprise and delight when Schlitzie kissed him full on the lips.

It was the sweetest, softest kiss Phroso had ever felt, and he was ready to overflow with tenderness the very second his mouth and hers were joined. And Phroso realized that the only thing that could ever make him happy now would be to wake every morning and see Schlitzie’s dear little face on the next pillow, and to melt with the ecstasy of watching her eyes flutter open and the entire world being brightened with the sheer beauty of her smile – the most adorable smile that he had ever seen.

Schlitzie reluctantly pulled away to speak, her eyes filled with happiness and that gorgeous smile lighting up her face. Her words were quietly spoken, and she snuggled even closer as she whispered them, looking up at her beloved.

“Phroso. Love you.”

“I love you too, Schlitzie,” the clown whispered back, smiling joyously himself as he stroked her top-knot with one hand and continued to embrace her with his other arm. He knew that this would be forever, that Schlitzie would always stay with him now, no matter what.

Schlitzie almost purred at his caresses, and looked deep into his loving eyes, sweetly demanding, “More kisses!”

Phroso laughed, and happily obliged her.


End file.
